LETHBRIDGE — Despite coming into the game with no playoff aspirations, the Lethbridge Pronghorns knew that playoff seeding loomed for the Calgary Dinos and hoped to play spoiler. However, this game ended in the Dinos favour, as the home side lost by a score of 4-1.

Sara Craven led the way for the Dinos with a goal and an assist on four shots, supported by Sage Desjardins and her first goal of the season. Pronghorns forward Madison Porter scored her team's only goal of the game.

Lethbridge's Alicia Anderson turned aside 29 of 33 shots in her final career appearance at the Nicholas Sheran Arena, while Calgary's Kelsey Roberts allowed one goal on 20 shots to secure the victory for her side.

In the pre-game ceremony, Deni Hettle, Katie Breitkreuz, Kirana Stocker, Tricia Van Vaerenbergh, Mattie Apperson, and Anderson were each honoured with a gift from Pronghorn Athletics in recognition of their dedication to academics and sport, and all of whom were in the starting lineup for the Horns.

The opening half of the first period was all Dinos, as Craven and Rachel Paul each tallied two shots on Anderson, helped out by an early Pronghorn penalty that provided three of those opportunities.

Lethbridge began to break out of their shell following Calgary's momentum grab, getting a few shots of their own on the Roberts-tended net by way of some sloppiness by the Calgary defence. 

Inside the 17th minute of the period, the Dinos opened the scoring following an offensive-zone faceoff loss. After Annaliese Meier recovered the puck at the near-side half-boards, Chelsea Court drove the puck behind the net, eventually finding Brooke Dennett in front of Anderson, firing it top shelf above Anderson.

Shortly after the opening marker, Calgary put themselves on the short-hand for the first time in the game. Lethbridge's Alli Borrow shot through a crowd in front of Roberts, but the puck ricocheted off of several sticks before finding Madison Porter's stick that buried the biscuit to tie the game heading into the first intermission.

The Dinos quickly retook the lead early in period two, as a poorly controlled puck at the half-boards was scooped up by Trechelle Bunn, who weaved her way to the near-side faceoff dot and snapped one above the glove on Anderson.

Both sides saw plenty of chances either way in the frame, but most of the play was spent in the Lethbridge zone thanks to exceptional back-checking by the Calgary side. Calgary tripled the Lethbridge shot tally in the period 15 – 5, leading by nearly double as they ended the period up by a goal.

The third period was a stingy one for both clubs, allowing only two shots to reach their respective netminders in the initial ten minutes. Things began to open up as the Pronghorns forced their way into the Dinos zone to get a flurry of shots on Roberts.

Despite a slight recapture of the momentum at the apex of the period, the Pronghorns found themselves down by two heading into the final stretch. After preventing the puck from clearing the zone once again, Craven set up a give-and-go with Taylor Beck before heading to the net and going forehand-backhand-shelf above a sprawling Anderson, widening the lead.

Lethbridge tried to force the momentum in their favour but nothing seemed to work, and it ultimately led to a fourth and final marker from the visiting side. Craven's shot into traffic sat in open ice before Sage Desjardins swung at the puck to chip it over Anderson and into the net.

With the Lethbridge Pronghorns (7-15-2-3, 28 pts) loss to the Calgary Dinos (16-7-1-3, 53 pts) and the Manitoba Bisons (8-16-2-1, 29 pts) loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies (14-7-3-3, 51 pts), the Pronghorns and the Bisons are now officially out of the 2019/20 Canada West playoff bracket. 

The Pronghorns and Dinos will face off again tomorrow night, this time in Calgary at Father David Bauer Arena, puck drops at 6pm.

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